44 Chapter 43 (1/2)

”Ah!” The first girl made a surprised noise.

She was a small pretty girl, a little older than the girls I had such an unpleasant experience with earlier. She had rich blond hair and a small face. The other girl had a darker complexion, with very long legs. She was probably as tall as most men. Her face was framed with glasses which gave her a mature look.

At that point, the emotional blows of the night had put me on edge. The idea of pretending to be civil to these women as they insulted me was out of the question. Therefore, I let the mask slide for a moment.

”I'll have you know,” I sniffed. ”That it's not the number of cocks you suck, but the quality of the right cock.”

The girl's eyes opened in surprise at my direct admission, but before they could respond there was a cackling sound coming from down the hall. It was a considerably older woman, with slightly grayed hair, yet she still held herself high with a strong back and a noble gaze.

The two other girls immediately fell into curtsies in a fluster when they saw her. ”Duchess Melinda, Good evening.”

The taller girl then spoke. ”Ah… we were just-”

”Gossiping… about each other, as girls tend to do… I know how it works.” The woman dismissed her words with a curt nod before looking at me. ”So, tell me, Princess Cornelia, tell me about this special cock you sucked to find all those orbs.”

The two girls burst out into blushes, but I currently had my Deception down and thus forgot to act out the part of being embarrassed. ”Well, it was eight inches from head to shaft, warm and veiny, pinkish in color, and tasted a bit salty.”

The other two girls, who were almost staring in reverence towards this incoming woman had their looks turn to shock as I twisted her words. I admitted I was a little angry from earlier, so in some ways, I was vindicating my embarrassment, although I hadn't thought of exactly who I was talking back to.

However, the woman's eyes flashed with a twinkle of humor. ”Mm… eight inches now, that does sound special. My husband was rather small. I imagine what these old bones could do with eight inches.”

”I hope he was good with his tongue,” I responded back.

”Well, I kept on hoping, but gods bless the man he did try, I'll give him that.” The lady laughed, ”Let us walk and talk. It has been some time since I've talked with anyone here who seems to have any brains in their head. Feel free to throw out the analysis skill you kids love using these days.”

Although she was speaking specifically to me, somehow, she had managed to grab the other two girls and dragged them with her, although they were shooting each other glances as if they were begging for help while looking on the verge of fleeing at any second.

Taking her advice, I gave the three women an Examine. My magic sense did not detect them using any magic on me. This might be because none of the three women had analyze, or they didn't want to use analyze, or possibly they had already used it when I had entered the ballroom initially.

{Name: Melinda Fry, Sex: F, Age: 52, Title: Duchess of Rin Total Level: 55, Class: Magician, Class Level: 25, Sexual Partners: 6, Sexual Preference: Nice Butt Sexual Kink: Teasing, Relationship: Widowed, Breast Size: D, First Time: Jerick Still, Last Time She Had Sex: 7.2 years, Favorite Sexual Position: Doggie, Most Sensitive Area: Back of Neck, Age Lost Virginity: 16 Status: None}

{Name: Destine Psi, Sex: F, Age: 25, Title: Weaver Total Level: 35, Class: Arts Craftsman, Class Level: 5, Sexual Partners: 3, Sexual Preference: Muscular Sexual Kink: Having Neck Sucked, Relationship: Married, Breast Size: C First Time: Braun, Last Time She Had Sex: 6 months, Favorite Sexual Position: Doggie, Most Sensitive Area: Side of Neck, Age Lost Virginity: 18 Status: None}

{Name: Mary Warren, Sex: F, Age: 26, Title: None Total Level: 38, Class: Harp Player, Class Level: 8, Sexual Partners: 1, Sexual Preference: Pretty Boys Sexual Kink: Blowjobs, Relationship: Engaged, Breast Size: B, First Time: Bree Stack, Last Time She Had Sex: 1 year, Favorite Sexual Position: Reverse Cowgirl, Most Sensitive Area: Armpit, Age Lost Virginity: 17 Status: None}

Mary Warren was the taller woman while Destine Psi had the smaller form. I noticed their sexual partners were significantly less than the previous three girls. Given my sex count, I felt a tad hypocritical, judging women by that, but I still felt better knowing these three women were not the typical party goers. Given the last time they had sex, these women likely did not go to Julian's parties at all.

”Your dress is very lovely. I, for one, hate the frills that are in right now. It just tears and gives the seamstress a headache. This is very fine stitching, I can tell. Hand stitched? A lot of the seamstresses that make dresses for nobles these days use magical stitching. It creates perfect seams, but their artificial and lack any true detail. They're just laziness and cheapness. To find something handstitched like this is truly enviable.”

Melinda was a bit of a force, continuing to talk as she felt my dress. She had the other girls feeling the seams as well, and Destine, in particular, had an interest in the fine hand stitching of my dress, although the honest truth was that I knew very little about the making of the dress beyond the fact that Min did it for me.

”It was done by my servant, Min,” I explained.

”Ah, that would be the ”elf slave” I hear about so much.”

”She's not a slave, she's family!” I protested before I could help myself. ”That is… um… she was a servant I was taking, and the slavers captured her after the Pigman attacked…”

Although I didn't have the same power in my words when I came up with the lie, Melinda gave a hard nod.

”Yes, I know how those slavers function, snapping up any demi-human they can lay a crime on. Since you can only enslave those guilty of crimes or born into slavery here, the slavers really push the law to the extreme, and use local prejudice to enslave a lot of innocent demi-humans. It makes me sick!” Melinda looked like she was about to spit, to the point that Destine jumped to the side to avoid it, but at the last second, she didn't.

”Th-that makes sense!” Mary spoke up. ”You-you're very lucky you were able to save your family servant from being enslaved. I have a girl at home. A B-Beastman girl with cat ears. We used to go fishing together in a pond on my father's estate. I would be devastated if I found out she had been turned into a slave!” Mary still seemed nervous, but she seemed to speak passionately from the heart.

As she talked, we found ourselves in a small receiving room, and servants ran by and made us some tea. This was all done with a few flicks of the wrists from Melinda, who seemed to be setting the pace of this conversation with ease.

Destine suddenly spoke up although she looked like she was about to cry. ”I-I lost my virginity to a beast man!”

”What?” Mary made a noise of surprise. ”You never told me that!”

”Ha! Now it's getting good.” Melinda laughed.

”W-well… it was when I was 18. It was a stable boy. He had the c-cutest dog ears, and well… you guys never did anything like that?”

I felt bad for her as her cheeks started to turn bright pink in embarrassment, so I spoke up. ”Bandit.”

The three eyes turned to me while I wore a wry smile.

”Wh-what happened with that?”

”Ah… he was really sweet. Told me he was a former Knight. So, one thing led to another… but then the next day the king cut off his head.”

The two younger girls gasped while Melinda merely nodded as if she understood. ”I had a similar experience once. An adventuring bard who used to sing the sweetest tales. Then one day, he didn't come back from an adventure.”

I gave her a nod of understanding. Losing someone who you were intimate with was always a blow. Of course, I left out a lot of details around that event but left just enough so that it wouldn't be boring.

”So… while we're talking,” Mary spoke up. ”What is it like… being engaged to the third prince? I mean, you guys looked pretty close from what I saw.”

”Ah… that…” I gave a grimace.

”Is that silly Sylvia girl giving you problems?” Melinda inserted with a knowing look.

”Huh? Who, Sylvia?” Destine asked.

”Yeah, that girl was giving quite the hateful stare. I heard the two had grown up together. I would bet a gold necklace that he is her first, at the very least. Sorry, girl.”

”No… well, as to that…” I stuttered out.

I didn't know whether it was the tea, the comfortable atmosphere, the motherly charm of Melinda, or what, but my mouth seemed to slip open. I ended up telling them about my first encounter with Sylvia, even going so far as to mention the letter, and as they hung on my words, I found myself revealing my unfortunate catching them together, and before I knew it I was even mentioning how they were going at, it only an hour ago just down the hall from where I met these women.

The girls gasped and gave openly shocked expressions while also providing me words of encouragement and sympathy. Melinda merely nodded, taking in the story thoughtfully.

”I-I admit, I never thought the princes were like that. Well… I mean, I know the first two are a little funny, but I thought the third was normal. To think he'd make her wear your dresses… and that girl… ooo, I just want to punch her in the face now. Just last week she had told Destine and I a nasty rumor about you. Now, I know where they were coming from.”

”What? She's spreading rumors too?” I gave a wry look.

The two younger girls looked at each other and then suddenly both bowed their heads down towards me. ”We're sorry! We had gotten the wrong impression about you from her. We were wrong, please forgive us!”

It was a sincere apology, and I ended up growing flustered as well. It was Melinda who stepped in.

”What's done is done. The best you girls can do is try to make your own impressions of people rather than following rumors!”